asia – Travelling Pole

Vang Vieng and Vientiane, Laos

These two places are fairly close to each other so you can visit both in a single trip easily. Also, we didn’t explore everything Vang Vieng has to offer because we stayed out of town so our experience of it is pretty limited.

We arrived in Vang Vieng in a minivan from Luang Prabang. It is a pretty uncomfortable ride as the roads are very bad but it only takes around 4 hours so it is bearable. We paid £8 each for the journey and booked it through one of the travel agents on the main street in Luang Prabang. After the fact, we were told by our hotel that you can do this cheaper but it seemed a fair price to us so we didn’t change the plan. The VIP bus was double the price and more comfortable (it avoids the bad roads) but it takes 2 hours longer I’m told.

We booked to stay in Green View Resort which we saw in YouTube videos. The hotel is located on the shores of the Nam Ngum Lake which is around half an hour drive south from Vang Vieng. We were aware of the location and picked it so that we can have a relaxing time but if you wish to be close to the action I would recommend staying in Vang Vieng centre. It was a bit difficult getting in and out of the resort and it cost a lot too.

The town of Vang Vieng itself isn’t amazing or particularly big but it became very famous a while back for raucous backpacker parties along the river. Tubing on the river used to be huge business here. You basically got a giant tractor tire and you floated down the river in it stopping in various bars. But all good things must come to an end and after a year of over 20 tourist deaths on the river, the Lao government shut down the tubing and the bars. The town needed to reinvent itself and now you can do tons of other activities here like kayaking and zip lining. Tubing was eventually reopened and lots of the death traps were removed but only 3 bars can be opened on any given day and no drugs are advertised openly either. I’m guessing the fact that the activity was toned down, coupled with the modern, health conscious backpacker profile, is the reason why tubing doesn’t attract as many people today as it did in the past. Nevertheless, we liked the idea of floating gently in the river for a few hours so we decided to give it a go. It was really nice and we thoroughly enjoyed it, we even stopped in one bar and got slightly tipsy but decided to move on once the owner started offering us some dubious looking opium vodka shots… The river is really shallow and it was slow in parts so we had to get out of the tubes to try and push ourselves along. A good piece of advice would be to wear water shoes as the bottom of the river is covered with stones. We had a lovely time and including the bar stop it took us just over 5 hours to get to the end. The tube hire is just under £6 per person and the tuk tuk to the starting point is included. Overall, a very good value activity. You end up right in town and leave your tubes there.

So that was our Vang Vieng experience! We stayed in the resort for 5 nights and were largely super lazy but the hotel offers free kayaks so we explored the lake a little which was fun and my first time in the kayak too! As some of you know, I can’t swim so this was a big deal. The hotel is just a few chalet type rooms overlooking the lake with your own private terrace. They also have a restaurant on site and the chef makes really good food, the curry and larb were superb. The swimming pool is a big bonus too. The views were beautiful and sometimes you felt like you were in a nature program when the water buffaloes came to graze on a nearby island and were swimming in the lake just in front of you.

Once our lazy time was over we took a minivan to Vientiane, the capital city. It took just over 3 hours to get there in a minivan and cost £5 each. There is of course an airport in Vientiane too if you were flying in to this part directly (no direct flights to Europe but you can easily connect from Bangkok or Hanoi). Vientiane is a small capital city, with less than a million people and no major high rises. It certainly feels like a local town more than a capital. We stayed in Vientiane Garden Villa Hotel, great location near to the night market and many bars and restaurants. We didn’t have a long list of attractions to tick off here so wanted to be near a pool and the hotel offered this too (about £30 per night).

The first thing we saw was the Cope project centre. It is a charity which helps people who lost limbs to get prosthetic replacements. This is actually a big issue in Laos and one I wasn’t aware of. Due to tons of unexploded bombs scattered around Laos accidents involving these bombs are actually fairly common. The charity helps to raise awareness of the situation too it was very eye opening to find out how badly Laos suffered during the Vietnam war. Highly recommend a visit here.

The next day we went to see the Buddha Park which is located out of town, 30km away. The hotel quoted some outrageous price for a return journey so we were a bit put off but we noticed an ad for a tuk tuk tour on a tree in town and decided to try it out (it was about £7 pp). Simple advertising works it turns out! The driver was a bit of a character and spoke decent English. He stopped at a temple before getting to the park and told us a few interesting stories.

The entry to the park is about £1.50. The park has over 200 Buddha and various Hindu statues scattered all over beautiful landscaped garden. It’s a lovely place to hang out and enjoy the green space (there aren’t many of those in the city). As a part of the tour you could also go and see their most impressive temple and the Patuxai monument but we chose to call it a day and see them the next day.

We explored Vientiane further on our second day. First we went to see That Luang temple, supposedly the biggest one in town. It was all gold and nice to look at but didn’t have the grandeur of its Myanmar equivalent, Shwedagon Pagoda. Still, it’s worth a quick visit and you can also see a reclining Buddha in a nearby religious complex too.

Our final stop on the sightseeing tour of Vientiane was the Patuxai monument which is also called Arc de Triumphe since it bears some resemblance to the one in Paris. The area around it feels very European and it’s a nice square to hang out in and have some ice cream.

We also had a brief stroll around the riverside and the Night Market which predominantly sells clothes and tech from China so unless you need some new tshirts or shorts can be skipped altogether I think. The area around the market has a lot of nice bars and restaurants though, so should definitely feature on your agenda. We had a few beers in the Bor Pen Yang bar, very lively atmosphere and decent music (well, apart from the 15 minutes they played Ronan Keating’s biggest hits). Tired from the Asian food, we used Vientiane to fill our bellies with as much Western food as possible and if you fancy a change from the endless rice dishes please visit Tyson Kitchen. The owner is Canadian but of Lao descent and is super friendly and attentive. The food is amazing too.

Steve enjoying a Beerlao in the Bor Pen Yang bar

To sum up, I think Vientiane is good stop over place if you need to break up the journey around Lao or rest after a long flight but I wouldn’t recommend more than 1-2 nights here as the attractions are far and few in between. Also, being any longer in a city where there are no proper taxis and you have to haggle with tuk tuk drivers would drive anyone mad.

Hpa An, Myanmar

Hpa An is a small town located about 6 hours drive south from Yangon. We got a VIP bus again to have enough leg room. Mi Ba Gone is not as good as JJ Express but they got us there safely nevertheless.

The town of Hpa An has a laid back vibe and is easily seen on foot. It is less sophisticated than Bagan or Nyaungshwe in terms of tourist resources but this is also its main appeal. We were drawn here by the surrounding attractions too which you can get to by hiring a motorbike or if you are lazy like us, by hiring a pick up truck to drive you there.

The accommodation in Hpa An is on the basic side as the tourism is only starting to flourish. We stayed in Galaxy Motel which is conveniently located in the centre of town and had great reviews. It was super basic though, I’m talking diarrhoea colour walls, smell of drains in the bathroom and barely enough room to move around… but we only slept there really and the hospitality and kindness of the owners as well as the value for money and the amazing surprise breakfast more than made up for it.

Breakfast in Galaxy Motel: watermelon, coconut pancake, rice pudding, samosa and noodle soup

We arranged the truck driver through the hotel and the cost of it was £17 for the whole day (we started at 9.30). The roads in the area are very bad and the truck has no suspension so you will feel the sightseeing in your back at the end of the day! It is all worth it though as the sights are truly amazing. The first stop on our journey was Taung Wine Mountain. We didn’t want to do a full blown trek as my foot was still full of blisters from the Kalaw trek and we read this hill only needed 45 min climb hence why we decided to to go there instead of the more popular Mount Zwegabin which needs several hours of climbing. I think it took us maybe an hour to go up but it was a very intense hike, very steep steps pretty much all the way to the top. I nearly died at the end but it was so worth it for the insane views and a sense of achievement.

After the hike, we went to Sadan Cave which is the longest one in the area. It is also a temple so you will need to take your shoes off for the walk through. It is really peaceful inside with lots of buddha statues and bats flying around. Make sure you take your shoes with you as at the end of it you can take a boat to take to nearby rice paddies and you can walk back to the entrance that way rather than walking back through the cave. I suspect it must have been very dry season over there as a large part of the river was dried up so we actually walked back for the best part of it. Nevertheless it’s a nice experience and you get to see lush green rice paddies and beautiful mountains on the horizon. There is a small entrance fee to the cave and the boat costs £2. All very worth it for the experience.

Our final stop was the Kyauk Ka Lat Pagoda. I have to say that we were pretty much done with the pagodas by that point but wanted to see this one because of the setting. It is located in the middle of a lake and makes for a nice sunset spot.

Back in town, we also took a walk along the river and through the daily night market. The area is a bit of a work in progress but I think it will be nice in a few years’ time.

Due to the proximity to the Thai border, there was a lot of Thai inspired food on offer in Hpa An. We ate twice in a place called Wadee (once by candle light due to power outage!). Both times the food was delicious and we felt fine afterwards which is a big achievement in Myanmar! We also had lunch in the Verandah restaurant which also serves as a travel advice hub and helps young people in the area get hospitality experience, definitely worth a visit.

Thai green curry with rice and fried morning glory in Wadee restuarant

Hpa An should feature on any visitor’s itinerary in Myanmar. It is very accessible from Yangon and if you don’t mind roughing it a little there are a lot of amazing sites to visit here.

Kalaw & Inle Lake, Myanmar

Kalaw is a small town in the northern part of Myanmar. It is around 6 hours bus ride from Mandalay. The main reason why most people would visit the area is to do a trekking excursion in the nearby countryside or (as we did) do a longer hike all the way to Inle Lake which is the second biggest attraction in Myanmar.

We got to Kalaw on our trusted VIP bus, JJ Express (tickets £7 each). We had previously exchanged some emails with one of the trekking companies called Ever Smile and decided to go with them for the trek.

Upon arrival in Kalaw, we checked in to Genesis Motel where we would spend the night before setting off on our trek. The place was pretty basic but the bed was comfy and had a proper duvet. Turns out duvet came handy pretty quickly as there was a power outage and everything including heating went off. Did I mention Kalaw is in the mountains and is by no means a tropical destination?? It was in fact quite cold at night so I was slowly getting worried about the trek itself.

With power back on, we set off to see the trekking company. We were given some basic info on possible routes and after some deliberation we chose to go for a 2 night/3 day trek starting the next day at 9 am (cost £20 each). We got a list of things to pack and among them was what they called a “layer” for the chilly evenings. Walking back through town we noticed all shops were selling proper winter gear so thinking of the worst outcomes we ended up buying a huge woolly hat and a pair of gloves to accompany a hoodie and a jacket we already had just in case.

The next morning we reported to the meeting point where we were divided into 3 groups. Ours was the smallest, only 4 people but we were told that 5 more will join the next day which was effectively how they do the 1 night/2 day trek. Our main luggage was tagged and sent to our Inle Lake hotel so we only had our small rucksacks with us. When I say small, they were packed full of stuff and quite heavy. Our companions for the day were a young German couple and our guide, a local lad. It quickly transpired that the trek was a lot harder than it was sold to be. At one point it was full blown jungle uphill climb and a mud river crossing. Sounds fun right? It may have been if you didn’t have to carry your life on your back. Admittedly, I’m not very fit but by lunchtime I was knackered.

The trek price includes all meals and accommodation which is incredible value. We had lunch in the village and it was all tasty and largely vegetarian (suited us scared tourists, after the food poisoning in Bagan we wanted to avoid any risky foods like meat). The guide was chatty and clearly wanted to practice his English but very often we found ourselves not really understanding him. We slept in villages both nights where the locals have prepared us bedrooms. We all slept in one room (4 the first night and 9 the second). The bed consisted of a very thin mattress on the floor plus a hard pillow and 3 blankets. As soon as the sun went down it became clear we will need all the clothing and blankets possible. It was freezing, like seeing your breath freezing. Not even mentioning the toilet situation, it was a hole in the ground located outside so a trip to the loo at night was out of the question (for me at least). The breakfast was pancakes, fruit and coffee which I actually enjoyed. The second day of trekking was easier but by that point I had developed huge blisters so was in pain by the end of the day. The idea is that the last day you get to Inle Lake and they give you a free boat ride to Nyaungshwe which is the base for exploring the lake. The third day we had to walk about 5 hours and I was literally dead at the end. The boat ride was amazing though and felt like a nice reward after the hardships of the trek. Knowing what I know now, I would 100% only go for one night. It is quite an ordeal for someone used to some comforts plus I don’t think we got anything more from the extra day in a sense of culture or local information. It is totally worth doing though for the experience.

Typical lunch in the village, fried noodles, soup and fruit

Huge advantage of the trek – so many puppies to play with

Our trekking crew, 2 Canadians, 1 American 2 Germans, 2 French, 1 Brit and one Brit Pole 😀

Now for Inle Lake. The area is absolutely stunning. Think more of a sea when you first see it (it’s 22 km long!). It is surrounded by mountains and you can find villages on stilts on its shores as well as many floating gardens and allotments. The only way of transport is a boat, I love being on the water so this was heaven for me.

Nyaungshwe is the town where most visitors are likely to stay and where you can hire boats to go and explore the lake. We stayed in Mother’s Home Hotel which was set away from the noisy port area. It’s a great value option, just under £20 per night. A comfy bed and a fluffy duvet plus a small balcony. Breakfast was average but served on a nice terrace overlooking the town. We spent the first day on admin, like doing laundry, shopping and booking our boat trip.

What we noticed that as lovely as they were the boats were quite noisy (think tractor engine) so when we stumbled across an option of hiring a silent boat for the day we jumped at the opportunity. We probably paid too much but £25 seemed reasonable to us for the whole day. This included an English speaking guide too. We set off at 9 am the next day and the whole day was one of my highlights of Myanmar for sure. It felt incredible to be cruising on the lake, visiting the locals (mainly relatives of the tour agency’s manager) and finding out more about them and their lives. The visits were so genuine and not motivated by any shopping opportunity, the people seemed really interested in where we came from and how we live. We were greeted with amazing hospitality everywhere we went and I loved every minute of it. The day ended with a visit to Indein to see a site with hundreds of stupas. It was a pleasant stroll but I have to say I had reached a temple saturation point by then so can’t give a lot of detail on this. My blister was also flaring up so it was hard to concentrate 😂

Inle Lake is in the Shan state and we were told that it’s also a tasty cuisine so were keen to try it out. On our last day, we went to Sin Yaw restaurant for a bowl of the traditional Shan noodles. They are kind of sticky and set in a rich and peanutty broth with chilli. Very yummy indeed. We also had stir fried kailan (Chinese kale/broccolli) and a tomato salad with their signature sesame dressing. Really recommend this place if you want to sample Shan cuisine. Apart from being templed out, we were also becoming rice-d out so ended up having dim sum and roast duck pancakes twice for dinner at the Live Dim Sum restaurant. The dim sum were very tasty and so was the duck, all washed down with jasmine tea.

Nyaungshwe turned out to be one of my favourite places in Myanmar and I wish we had stayed a bit longer. I loved the relaxed vibe and the water setting. You could easily spend a day just watching the life go by from a waterside terrace. The boat trip was awesome too. In terms of trekking, opt in for one night for sure and only from Kalaw to Inle, not the other way round. The reversed route is all uphill!

Mandalay, Myanmar

Mandalay is Myanmar’s second largest city. It has an international airport with links to nearby Thailand and China. If you’re already in Myanmar, you’re likely to arrive there either by bus or by boat from Bagan as we did. The boat company we used was MGRG. The tickets cost $32 pp and include breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. The boat leaves at 5.30 am and gets to Mandalay about 4 PM so it is a long day but a pleasant one too assuming you are well to travel. We were up all night with food poisoning so the boat ride ended up being quite an ordeal but we got there in the end. Needless to say, we didn’t eat any of the food on board but it did look ok. The bus from Bagan to Mandalay takes 4 hours so is much faster if you don’t have time.

Upon arrival at the jetty we had to endure the usual haggling over taxi price which is quite normal here (but very tiring after a while). Fortunately our hotel was only 10 minutes away, we ended up paying £2.50 for the ride which I’m sure was inflated but hey, it’s just £2.50 after all. That just gives you an idea of how cheap things are here!

We allocated 2 full days for Mandalay and I believe this is probably enough to see the main sights. The city itself won’t wow you, it’s pretty much a smaller version of Yangon however there are several attractions in the vicinity that make Mandalay a great base for exploring.

On our first day, we decided to visit Mandalay Hill. It is a religious complex and yes, it is on a hill and quite a large one I must say so be prepared for a bit of a hike. I think it took us about an hour and a half to climb up to the top with a leisurely pace. There is a pagoda or a small temple on every level which breaks the journey up nicely. The view from the top is lovely and worth the climb but it is also very popular for sunset watching so it did get quite crowded around 5 PM. We think that it’s actually nicer to go a level or two down and watch the sunset from there because it is a little closer to the city and you can see various monuments and the city sections plus you will be alone there.

Apart from seeing the various temples on your way up the hill, you can also observe local life as people actually live on the hill. It is quite startling to see the poverty levels and indeed very eye opening to a Western person.

I had two other things on my must see list in Mandalay: the white temple in Mingun and the U Bein bridge (the longest teak bridge in the world). The two things are quite far apart so after speaking with the hotel reception we decided to hire a driver for the day to take us to both attractions and a few others in between. The cost of this was £27 and I must say was tremendous value. We started at 8 am and visited Mahamuni Pagoda first. We then made our way to Mingun where you can see the ruins of what was supposed to be the biggest pagoda in the world, the world’s second largest bell and what we came for which is the white pagoda. The first two are nice to see however the white pagoda is 100% worth a longer visit. It is certainly not the most elaborate one but it lends itself to the most striking photos and you could see why for sure, so many photoshoots were taking place there! If like us you happen to be here in the middle of the day, make sure you bring a strong sunblock and sunglasses, it was absolutely boiling there with the white colour reflecting the sun so much.

In the afternoon, we visited Sagaing Hill which was a sort of a smaller version of Mandalay Hill and then we went to the ancient town of Innwa. You need to take a boat over there which I believe costs £2.50 each. Once you’re there either a horse and cart or a shared taxi will take you to the most important monuments.

Our favourite spot was the old teak monastery, it was very atmospheric and really nice to take a stroll through.

We finally made our way to U Bein bridge for the sunset. Our driver urged us to take a walk on the bridge however the best way to watch the sunset there is definitely over water. We hired a boat for an extortionate price of £10 for less than an hour but it was a nice photo spot and we enjoyed the boat ride so it didn’t matter in the end.

Our accommodation in Mandalay was Hotel Aurora and we were very pleased with the service and value we got. Our room was small but very adequate for 3 nights and cost £60 which is great value. It was located on 87th street, corner of 26th street so pretty central. The staff spoke really great English and helped us with the tickets to the next destination as well as the taxi for the day of sightseeing. I’d really recommend the hotel for a short stay but as with most hotels you should take ear plugs with you, no double glazing!

I can’t really comment on the food in Mandalay as we didn’t have much of it. We were recovering from a bout of food poisoning and were only eating bread, chips and soup so nothing to shout about I’m afraid.

As with Yangon, you should have Grab app ready for your transport needs. It’s the Asian Uber equivalent and in Mandalay you can get tuk tuk on it too. Most rides will cost you about £1!

Yangon, Myanmar

This was our first stop on a 4 month journey across Asia. Not the easiest place to get to from Europe as it involves at least 2 flights but definitely worth it. Coming from Europe, Thai Airways offers probably the best connection. A flight to Bangkok is approx. 10 and half hours, you then get a pleasant 2 hour break at Bangkok airport followed by a short 1 hour flight to Yangon.

I have to say that the arrival at Yangon didn’t fill me with confidence after I had to visit the loo and discovered that it was a hole in the ground situation but of course it’s all part of the experience! (don’t worry, most other loos we encountered are as you imagine them to be).

Upon arrival, you need to get some currency. Burmese currency is not available to buy anywhere outside of the country so best to get it at the airport (apparently the rate is quite good too). We changed about $150 and we still have plenty of it left and we are on our third full day in Myanmar! Yes, things here are very cheap indeed. A 45 minute taxi ride from the airport was about $10, one of the most expensive bills we have had to pay so far.

We arrived after dark so couldn’t see much that evening and were also pretty tired so ended up staying within the walls of our hotel for the night. Since we are away for 4 months, we need to budget a bit more than we would normally so we have opted for a budget friendly Hotel 63 (costing about $25 per night). It’s a little out of the way on the far Eastern side of Downtown and you do have to take taxis everywhere but they only cost about $2 so it really doesn’t matter. The area around the hotel was quite industrial given the proximity to the port and there was nowhere to go so for that reason alone I would probably recommend to stay somewhere closer to the main action area, from 40th street onwards (we were in 63rd street). I will have an opportunity to test out 2 more hotels in Yangon as we will be back there twice in the next month so will update this if my opinion changes. In hindsight, Yangon can also get a bit oppressive in terms of traffic and sheer volume of people so if your budget can stretch to it, get a hotel with a swimming pool or a terrace where you can escape the crowds for a bit.

Right, so the next morning, we made a list of things we wanted to see and made our way to 41st and 42nd street where a previously grubby alleyway has been decorated with amazing wall art and graffiti (Yangon Walls). This was our first glimpse of Yangon and while you can appreciate how this was once perhaps a charming and bustling neighbourhood, even with the addition of wall art it felt rather dilapidated and neglected. It is a shame but it looks like perhaps people are starting to realize that and some efforts are being made to make it a bit edgy and trendy. Overall, I would recommend stopping there for an hour or so.

Then, we went to see the Karaweik palace by the lake. This is actually a fairly new addition to Yangon but has become a sort of a landmark and even features on Myanmar’s national beer label. The area around the park is actually really nice and a welcome break from the narrow streets of Downtown.

Our final attraction stop on that day was undoubtedly the biggest attraction of Yangon which is the Shwedagon Pagoda (entry $10). The entry is somewhat modern, via a lift, however the pagoda itself dates back to 588 BC and is truly spectacular. We spent quite a bit of time there taking photos but also being photographed! Very weird at first, then was sweet and then got a bit annoying. We asked someone about it after as there are foreigners in the city so and we couldn’t figure out for ages why people wanted to take photos with us. Apparently, visitors to such sites very often come from outside the city and where they come from foreigners are rarely seen – hence the attraction. It felt a little odd but we obliged most of the time and given how may selfies we took with strangers over the course of that weekend I’m surprised we weren’t trending on Yangon’s insta account!

If you are in the market for some food and entertainment then you should definitely visit 19th street. It’s in Chinatown but also happens to be the lively place to be of an evening. We sat in Ko San and had a very enjoyable night there, won 3 free beers and made some first Burmese friends. The drinks were an absolute steal, cocktails were around £1!

We were slightly unlucky with the time we visited as 4th of January also happens to be Myanmar’s independence day. While it’s great to be a part of a celebration, the reality was that some of the attractions we wanted to see were closed (National Museum, U Thant House). Because of this, we ended up in People’s Park which is a huge green area with lots of landscaped gardens, follies etc. It was super busy but we really enjoyed it, so if you have time it’s nice to take a stroll in there but perhaps avoid the weekends and holidays if you don’t want to end up in everyone’s selfie collection.

Final activity we did in Yangon was to attend the street food tour. While the tour itself was not exactly what we hoped for (it was really history focussed rather than food), we did get to eat some delicious street food like tea leaf salad and we also had a pretty amazing BBQ on the 19th street. Neither of the places gave us any stomach troubles so I imagine they must have tried and tested them beforehand which is good. The BBQ place was called Shwe Mingalar and I can really recommend it.